Sound

The Sound dialog allows you to control how quickly the sound
engine adapts to the variations in volume and displays the current volume levels
and types so that you can evaluate the impact of your changes.

If you are looking for tips and tricks on how to use the screen
saver with sound, be sure to read FAQ item #1.

Amplitude Homing

This slider determines how aggressively the sound engine
will adapt to changes in volume. The more aggressively it adapts, the
more dynamic the patterns will be at the expense of accurately representing
the volume level. For example, a very aggressive setting will
greatly exaggerate the effect of tiny volume fluctuations in a quiet part of
a song while a weak setting will show the volume level in context of a longer
time period.

Volume Levels

Raw - this represents the current system-wide volume
level

Expanded - this represents the current volume scaled
to a percentage of the loudest sound detected. The scale will expand if and
when higher amplitude sounds are detected.

Dynamic - this represents the current volume level
after amplitude homing is applied. If amplitude homing is set to "None"
this will be similar to (or the same as) the Expanded volume level.

Simulated - this is the volume level that the visual
generators use. If the sound engine detects sound then this level will
be similar to the Expanded volume level. If no sound has been detected for
several seconds then this level will revert to a simulated volume level until sound
is detected again. The purpose of this is to keep Displays that have been
authored to use sound interesting when no sound is present to drive them.